brenster21

So I was wondering if my family would have access to the Welcome arrivals lounge in frankfurt, we (5) are flying UA ewr to frankfurt on Polaris, two of our party are 1k and the other three have no status, and are connecting flight is 3 hours later and is in coach.

N104UA

Because of you arriving on UA in J you will have access to the Welcome Lounge. Note that the Welcome Lounge is landside so you will have to clear passport control then go back through security, so leave plenty of time for that.

YuropFlyer

Maybe not the best idea with just 3hrs of layover, and assuming OP and family are Non-EU/EFTA/CH passport holder, and thus have to use the slow security lane queues. If they're indeed out 3hrs before departure, heading landside (if they're allowed to enter Schengen, mind you) for a QUICK visit to the landside arrival lounge might work out just fine.. but I'd be careful to leave early enough. As in, really just doing that a quick visit.

N104UA

That is why I said they need to prepare to go back through security. As OP said 2 travelers are 1K/ Star Gold and they can each bring one guest into the LH business lounge, they could theoretically get 4 of them into the LH Business Lounge airside (which also have showers) and pay for one person to access it at 25EUR. They could even use the former F lounge turned Business Lounge

brenster21

Thank you both for your responses, after frankfurt we fly direct to prague on lufthansa. If that helps factor into what is the best lounge for the group to go to.

N104UA

If you stay airside go to the A26 lounge which is a former FCL. MatthewLAX recently reviewed it https://liveandletsfly.com/lufthansa...lounge-review/

Fabo.sk

As an aside, neither LH nor FRA mention United in the welcome lounge access blurbs any more, so I'm not sure if the access might have been removed after Covid?

In any case I'd suggest rather the SEN/BIZ lounges in A.

tods27

It's not that complicated, you just follow signs for arrivals and exit the secure area, then after spending time at the Welcome Lounge, you simply go back through security to your gate. I only brought up the "enter Germany" part as I don't know your nationality and whether that is an issue or not.

Unless you are Global Services on UA or HON on LH, you won't have access to the Welcome Lounge according to the LH website. You have to be on an LH flight in C to get access if you don't have high status on LH or UA. Unless this has changed recently, it's not worth going out of security to find out you can't access the lounge. Others may have more recent, practical experiences with flying UA C and accessing the Welcome Lounge.

From the LH website: "*** Access only for: Lufthansa First Class and Business Class passengers as well as Lufthansa status customers arriving on an intercontinental Lufthansa flight (LH 401 - LH 799); HON Circle member arriving on a flight operated by Lufthansa, Swiss or Austrian; United Airlines Global Services Card members arriving on a flight operated by United; First Class passengers arriving on a flight operated by Air China***"

andywaw

Translation of the Lufthansa website quote:

Lufthansa status customers arriving on an intercontinental Lufthansa flight (LH 401 - LH 799) means that Frequent Travelers, Senators and HONs (not only HONs) have access if they arrive on a Lufthansa Intercontinental flight, regardless of what class they are flying in, even in Economy Class.

HON Circle member arriving on a flight operated by Lufthansa, Swiss or Austrian means that HONs (only HONs) have access when they arrive on any flight (not necessarily intercontinental) operated by Lufthansa, Swiss or Austrian, and regardless of what class they are flying in.

Fabo.sk

They are continuing on to FCO so they have to enter Schengen anyway. The question is whether they are willing to go landside.


I thought they had also access for arriving Polaris pax, did they enhance it away?

tods27

I thought that they did for a time, but I'm going off the current LH website. It specifically calls out UA Global Services, but doesn't mention other UA C customers.

Well, it seems that the LH website strikes again with incomplete information. My apologies for creating a bit of a stir.

Fabo.sk

I know you are, I was caught off by it to the point that I checked that it's the correct lounge access rule. It is indeed.

NewbieRunner

According to this thread in the UA forum arriving Polaris pax have access to the Welcome Lounge, or did in 2019.

fed planner

I accessed it earlier this year as a Polaris pax.

DUTravel

Thanks for the answers on using the Welcome Lounge if arriving to FRA on United Polaris. United's website says that you have lounge access on Polaris arrivals so that's why I thought we would have access to the Welcome Lounge even though our connecting flight is in Economy (we don't have ay status).